Renowned explorationist, consultant and professor Larry Meckel is the 70th winner of the AAPG Sidney Powers Memorial Award, which is given annually in recognition of distinguished and outstanding contributions to, or achievements in, petroleum geology.
The award’s namesake was a founding Member and 14th president of AAPG. He died in 1932 at the age of 42. He is revered as an icon of petroleum geology, both for his scientific excellence and for his character, and the award is given each year to the AAPG Member who best represents the qualities exemplified by Powers.
Meckel has been one of the leaders in discovery thinking throughout his more than 50-year career through his innovative integration of rock data with seismic and engineering data, which he has used to develop new approaches in discovery thinking through prospect generation and short courses.
He has been instrumental in the discovery of more than a dozen oil and gas fields throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, including the giant Elmworth gas field in Alberta.
Meckel has also dedicated himself to the development of explorationists throughout his career and, owing to his personal success, has been in high demand as an instructor. He has instructed 15 different company training courses, 12 different modern and ancient field seminars and given numerous lectures through AAPG and other societies, and was the recipient of the AAPG Distinguished Educator Award in 2011.
For the past decade, Meckel has been an adjunct professor for the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, teaching and advising students at the graduate level.
He began his career after earning a doctorate in geology at John Hopkins University, taking his first job at Shell Development Company, where he participated in industry research that helped drive the revolution in sedimentary geology. After nearly a decade working for Shell, he went on to become a partner in a consulting firm before eventually striking out on his own, creating L.D. Meckel and Company.
Edward Dolly is the 11th recipient of the Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award, given in recognition of outstanding and exceptional leadership in the petroleum geosciences.
Dolly is regarded by colleagues and fellow AAPG Members as “the epitome of the professional geologist” for his vision and diligence as past chair of the AAPG 100th Anniversary Committee, his impressive accomplishments as a leader within the House of Delegates, both as chair and as representative of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, as well as for his past service on the Executive Committee the Advisory Council, and numerous other positions of leadership within AAPG.
An exhaustive list of all of Dolly’s official and unofficial leadership roles within the Association would exceed the scope of this piece, but in each instance, he distinguished himself as someone with extraordinary patience, diligence, passion and vision who has brought transformational focus, structure and direction to whatever committee or project he has led.
Interviews with both Meckel and Dolly will be published in future issues of the EXPLORER.